Category: Management and Technology

The over-hyping of technology leads to a natural reaction to discount its impact. That is a mistake. Broken promises notwithstanding, new technology continues to change law practice and business.  In the past, the challenge was just getting new technology to work. Today, the challenge is...

In response to my post about business intelligence software, one of my large law firm readers provided interesting comments about large law firm business development. This helps illustrate that some CIOs have an opportunity to be change agents in their firm.  First, here is the...

I recently asked a lawyer whether his firm was pursuing a relatively new idea and his response was, “how many other large law firms are doing that?” My reply was “why is that a relevant question?” He was taken aback and offered no answer.  The...

Last week blogger Adam Smith, Esq. wrote that per partner profits at large UK firms are much lower than at large US law firms. It’s interesting to consider why and if technology plays a role.  In a follow-up post, he offers explanations from several readers....

Last week I spoke at the ABA Tech Show on “Where Are We Going,” in which Toby Brown, Marc Lauritsen, and I talked about the future of legal technology. My key point was that while new technology often seems hard, the real difficulty typically revolves...

Fellow blogger Adam Smith, Esq. has assembled his second panel of “savvy bloggers” to address the question of the future of the billable hour.  The assembled responses are an interesting read about the basic economic model of the legal profession. My response to his question...

New legal technology frequently raises ethics concerns. A new Legal Ethics blog covers ethics and, this week, in connection with the ABA TechShow has a focus on legal technology and legal ethics.  Ben Cowgill is the lawyer-author of Legal Ethics; for this week’s focus on...

Last Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that companies “have struggled for years to reduce their legal costs, with little success” and that “[n]ow technology is coming to the rescue.” I’ve struggled since then with how to think about this article.  On the Case (paid...